Our recommendation in the 91st state Assembly race

Oct. 27, 2008

Rob Biagi

A refrain we keep hearing during this election year is the one defining insanity as electing the same people to office time and again and then expecting different results. We certainly have taken that admonition to heart, especially with respect to the state Legislature, where incumbents are returned to office better than 90 percent of the time. No wonder so many of the lawmakers behave as if they work for themselves instead of you.

More and more, we're convinced voters should look for opportunities to shake things up. We believe that an optimum opportunity presents itself in the 91st state Assembly District race, where two-term incumbent George Latimer, D-Rye, faces a challenge from Rob Biagi, a former state prosecutor. Our endorsement goes to Biagi.

We think he has the drive, enthusiasm and gumption to challenge the status quo in the do-as-Sheldon Silver-pleases Assembly, which is controlled by the Democrats; he better appreciates the hardship faced by overburdened taxpayers - trouble that reached crisis stage well before the current economic crisis. And, to get right down to it, we don't believe that Latimer, a career politician in Westchester, has been aggressive enough in standing up for the taxpayer or as productive as a majority-member lawmaker ought to be.

The single most important issue for local voters is taxation. Biagi gets it. As with Gov. David Paterson and the Senate, he supports the proposed 4 percent annual cap on school property taxes. He also supports "tough cuts" in spending, "regardless of the political risk." A state commission that studied our highest-in-the-nation property taxes recommended a tax cap as a necessary first step to force other fiscal reforms, including consolidation of school districts, more sharing of services, and savings through changes in collective-bargaining rules. Latimer favors a so-called "circuit-breaker," which would tie a property owner's tax bill to her income. It failed in the Senate and does nothing to address the out-of-control cost of schools. New York faces a budget gap of more than $10 billion over the next two years - in part because of profligate spending and borrowing, and failure of the lawmakers to stand up to powerful public-employee unions.

As a Republican, Biagi would have little clout in the Assembly, and his election faces long odds in what portends to be another Democratic year in New York. But district voters should appreciate that the same old way of doing things has not served their interests. As the ownership of the old, last-place-finishing Pirates professional baseball franchise used to tell the "stars" seeking more money or new contracts, "We finished in last place with you, we can finish in last place without you."

We say, give newcomer Biagi a shot.

Latimer also has the Independence and Working Families lines on the Nov. 4 ballot; Biagi has the Conservative line, too.